At every closing, Marcus Hundley hands his client not only a pen, but something they probably would never expect to need that day: a pair of shiny, sharp scissors. Then, once the papers are all signed and before they take their keys, the client picks up those scissors and cuts Marcus’s necktie off. Since they started the tradition this year, 65 ties have been cut. “Getting your new house should be more enjoyable than stressful,” he declares jovially. “I wanted to change how people think about getting their mortgage. It’s the most fun thing I’ve ever done, and it makes it really memorable for the client.”

That passion for changing how people think about getting a mortgage is deeply personal for Marcus, born from his own experience going through the process and encountering the stresses that come with it. “I was fascinated and drawn to the mortgage process,” he explains, “but once it was done, I was able to consider it all and felt that isn’t how it should be.”

Despite always feeling a deep attraction to real estate, Marcus didn’t decide to enter the industry for some time. After receiving his bachelor’s in psychology from Morehead State University in 2009, the La Grange native had followed the corporate career path and worked for Cellular Sales, Verizon’s largest retail front, and advanced his academic career, continuing on at Morehead and achieving his master’s in organizational psychology. Working his way up from in-store sales, Marcus moved into recruiting, eventually becoming the department head and successfully managed the challenges of overseeing the recruiting, staffing, and training for 43 stores. “It was difficult, convincing people to choose it as a career, but I hired over 1,300 people and made friends that will last a lifetime,” he relates, “but I was ready to get back to helping people and directly produce my own results.” Despite his success climbing the corporate ladder, Marcus knew it was time for a change and in April 2022, after 12 years in the cellular industry, he made the leap into real estate to answer a new call: making the process of getting a home enjoyable for people. 

But he had not chosen the easiest time to transition into real estate, facing climbing interest rates and a shifting market. “The first loan I locked was 4.75% and the second was over 6.75%,” he recalls, “so it was really straight out of the frying pan and into the pot, and I loved it.” In the face of the dramatic uncertain shifting of the market, Marcus found success, putting over 100 families into homes since he started, and is passionate about keeping that number growing. “I truly care, and I will run through a brick wall like the Kool-Aid man to get my clients into a home,” Marcus states. “It’s never yes or no, it’s “How?” and we’re obsessed with making that “How?” possible.

He credits his success to the more individual-focused approach to the mortgage process. “Our industry is dominated by numbers, and I think, unfortunately, mortgage has been filled with people who are great with numbers and forced to work with people. We try to be the opposite: we love working with people but are great with numbers,” he elaborates. “This is a stressful process for a lot of people, and you don’t always see them at their best. Sometimes they have challenges with their credit or income, something deeply personal to a lot of folks, and you are the one working with them on documents that deal with that. We are people-focused people who are great with numbers, and clients feel that difference; they actually enjoy our mortgage process instead of finding it stressful and frustrating.” The most crucial point of the approach, and the heart of its success, is to never lose sight of the goal of helping people. “Despite the infinite number of variables and the possible stress, at the end of the day, the goal is to put someone in the home” he says, “We are blessed to work in a business where our tremendous success only comes as a result of helping people.”

Marcus cites the support his current brokerage, Statewide, provides, choosing them for their outstanding reputation, structure, and competitive rates, as part of his success in mortgage, as well as guidance and support from acquaintances within the real estate industry. When not supporting his clients, Marcus pursues his other passions of traveling, sports, and cooking as a family with his wife, 5-year-old daughter Blakey, 2-year-old son, Nash, and three dogs. He is grateful to live in such an amazing county, for his family and his health, and for every opportunity to work hard and serve others.